Electronics

It's impossible to categorically state which breakthrough has had the greatest impact on our modern world, but harnessing electricity would have to be right up there. It's hard for most of us to imagine our lives without it – you wouldn't be reading this for a start. From electric lighting to instantaneous global communications, the evolution of electronics is far from over – keep up to date with the latest developments here.

Electronics Audio available

Swarms of bionic bees could monitor farms with electronic backpacks

Michael Irving December 11, 2018

Our drones are pretty handy, but nature’s drones – bees – are far more efficient. Rather than building our own from scratch, researchers at the University of Washington have created tiny suites of sensors that bees can wear like backpacks, to help gather data from their environment.

Researchers have fitted bees with electronic backpacks that can sense their surroundings and collect data

Electronics Audio available

"Friendly" EMP generator to help protect electronics against electromagnetic attack

David Szondy December 9, 2018

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons might be a staple of movies and video games, but they pose a very real threat. Sandia National Laboratories has developed a "friendly" EMP generator to make sure military and civilian equipment can withstand such potentially devastating bursts of energy.

Sandia National Laboratories researcher Leonard Martinez connects a high-voltage-insulating line that circulates oil between a coaxial ...

Electronics Audio available

Smallest 3D transistors ever made measure a minuscule 2.5 nanometers

Michael Irving December 9, 2018

Engineers from MIT and the University of Colorado have developed a new microfabrication technique and used it to produce the smallest 3D transistors ever made, measuring about a third the size of the current leading commercial products.

Engineers at MIT and the University of Colorado have developed a new fabrication technique to make ...

Electronics

Low-cost eye-tracking glasses have no need for batteries

Ben Coxworth October 30, 2018

Eye-tracking systems certainly would add a lot to augmented reality glasses, but their integration into such eyewear has been limited because they require so much power. That said, scientists have now developed eye-tracking glasses powered by nothing but onboard solar cells.

The system reportedly achieves "super high accuracy" with a low error rate for pupil tracking

Electronics

Tiny gyroscope the size of a grain of rice could help shrink gadgets even further

David Nield October 28, 2018

The electronics inside consumer gadgets are often miniaturized versions of bigger components – like phone cameras, for instance – and that applies to the gyroscopes used to help a device orientate itself in 3D space. Now scientists have worked out a way of making these gyroscopes much, much smaller.

This optical gyroscope is 500 times smaller than existing models

Electronics

Can carbon fiber car panels double as energy storage materials?

Nick Lavars October 18, 2018

Carbon fiber as we know it is one of the most impressive materials in our toolkit, but could it also play a role in energy storage? One team of scientists has been exploring the possibilities, raising some interesting possibilities for weight-saving vehicle design.

Can carbon fiber store energy for electric vehicles, as well as serve as structural elements?

Electronics

SoundBender levitates objects by curving sound waves around obstacles

Michael Irving October 15, 2018

Researchers at the University of Sussex have developed SoundBender, a technology that bends sound waves around obstacles to acoustically levitate objects above them.

SoundBender is an acoustic levitation device that can bend sound waves around obstacles

Electronics

A sprinkle of sodium powder keeps salt-based batteries powering on

Nick Lavars September 27, 2018

While experimental sodium-ion batteries continue to show promise, there are a few kinks to be ironed out before we see them become commonplace. Researchers at Purdue University are claiming to have overcome one important shortcoming by first reducing the sodium to a powder form.

Purdue researcher Jialiang Tang was part of a team that came up with a new sodium ...

Electronics Audio available

Sprayable antennas turn surfaces into ultra-thin, transparent transmitters

Michael Irving September 23, 2018

As crucial as antennas are, the rigid metals they’re made of can limit what devices they can be built into. To help with that, researchers at Drexel University have developed a new kind of antenna that can be sprayed onto just about any surface.

The sprayable antenna is made of MXene, a 2D titanium carbide material, which is extremely conductive ...

Electronics

Amazon has a host of new Echo and Alexa devices to smarten up your home (and car)

David Nield September 20, 2018

In an announcement-packed press show that seems to be becoming an annual event for Amazon, the company has unveiled a host of different Echo-branded and Alexa-powered devices for 2018, including redesigned speakers and a smart microwave. We've got the details on everything that's new.

Amazon has a host of new and improved Echo devices for the holiday season